Choose a Passionate BusinessWritten by Rob Spiegel
How do you choose right business to start? By following trends and trying to anticipate what consumers or business will want next? By looking for a hole in market? These strategies may help you find a potential business concept, but would it be a business you would enjoy building 60 or 80 hours each week. Since most start-ups require a weekly commitment of big hours, you better find something you love to do.There is a popular line to effect, "Do what you love and money will follow." Like most pithy statements, it gets tossed around as though it's a truth. It's very American, and it may even be true if you are convinced it's true. Outside U.S., statement would be viewed as laughably ludicrous. There is a more European version, "Whatever do you, love it." If there is any truth to our exuberantly American statement, it's that when you love what you do, there is a greater chance you will do your work with great enthusiasm, thus increasing your likelihood for success. Launching an enterprise requires intense effort. At same time you're putting in long hours, you are also learning new tasks, whether it's marketing or hiring and employee management. One entrepreneurial friend noted that to succeed with your own business, you need to get very good a lot of different jobs. Just try this if you don't have a passion for you're work. Most successful entrepreneurs love what they do. They jump into their work and they encourage those around them to bring zeal to effort. They are like crusaders who are out to convince world that it will be a better place with their product or service. Enthusiasm is contagious. Entrepreneurs need great amounts of enthusiasm to generate loyalty from their employees and to spark interest and foster confidence from their customers. As well as sustaining a high level of energy, drive optimism, entrepreneur has to become an expert in subject matter of business niche, whether it's fishing vacations or aluminum. Most successful entrepreneurs exhibit a very deep knowledge of their market. They know history, early players. They know conventional thinking in market and they're aware of new ideas struggling to gain attention. A good entrepreneur keeps all of this in perspective and has a good sense of what new trends will gain hold and which will sputter as sidelines.
| | Have You Made Your "Strategy Theme Sheet" ?Written by /"Wild Bill/" Montgomery
A "Strategy Theme Sheet" is a self made work-sheet document which helps you identify basis and theme of your advertising upon which you expect consumers to purchase your product in preference to your competition. The "Strategy Theme Sheet" deals directly with your advertising copy. The majority of content of a Strategy Theme Sheet comes from product and consumer demand for which product was designed.The Strategy Sheet is made up of eight subjects: 1) Objective - Your advertising objective will start out with "My advertising will.....". Of course your advertising will perform some kind of function, so you need an action verb next. Some common verbs used are "convince, persuade, and communicate". "Remind" could be another verb used. For example "Have you had you Wheaties today?" would be a Reminder objective. I prefer using "convince objective". It demonstrates confidence and use of persuasion, something that occurs inside consumer's mind. 2) Target Consumer - This is more than a simple statement of demographics. Women, 18 to 45 may be correct, but "Working Mothers, 18 to 45" or "Homemakers 18-45, may be an even better description. Focus your efforts and advertising copy on that specific group. Write out several different phrases describing your target consumer in fine detail. Remember, your talking about a real person here. 3) Product Benefit(s) - Simply put this spotlights features and benefits of product itself. Cost and Quality are your major players when describing your product benefits. Note: Price + Quality = Value! 4) Consumer Benefit(s) - These benefits are reflection of how product affects consumer's life. Making consumer's life or task at hand easier, faster or more desirable. It's how you "make consumer believe" your product's unique advantages for them and their life. Note: Use Product Benefits or Consumer Benefits, not both. 5) Support - One major part of your support statement is how you show, prove, vindicate or corroborate evidence to support your claims about your product. Support is also reason you provide product and consumer benefit(s) you your claiming. Many advertising strategies fail because they failed to support claims of product and consumer benefits.
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